Tag: YouTube

Groups ranging from SESAC to SoundExchange, the RIAA, BMI, ASCAP and Azoff MSG Entertainment have jointly written to U.S. Ambassador to the European Union, Anthony L. Gardner, and other offices, calling for them to back Article 13 of the recent EC Copyright Directive.

The letter explains: “We enthusiastically support passage of Article 13 of the recent proposed EC Copyright Directive, which will benefit American creators by directly addressing what has been called the ‘Value Gap’.”

Google’s YouTube struck a deal with German royalty-collection group Gema to pay licensing fees and unblock thousands of music videos in Europe’s biggest economy after seven years of legal battles.

The agreement signed Tuesday means that about 70,000 musicians and songwriters represented by Gema will get paid if their content is watched on YouTube, Gema said in a statement. The deal may enable YouTube to introduce its Red music and video subscription service in Germany, which the agreement also covers, Gema said.

In April, YouTube announced a long-awaited change to its Content ID policy, whereby videos under copyright dispute would still be able to rack up ad revenues. Today, that feature is live for all creators, the company said in a blog post.

“If both you and the Content ID claimant want to monetize your video, we will continue to run ads against it and hold those funds separately while the dispute is resolved,” writes Content ID product manager David Rosenstein. Previously, disputed videos generated no income whatsoever — which was especially costly for creators who felt it put too much power in the hands of claimants and made them vulnerable to incorrect claims.

In a joint effort, The International Federation of the Phonographic Industry (IFPI), the Recording Industry Association of America (RIAA), and the British Phonographic Industry (BPI) have taken Youtube-mp3.org to court. The RIAA announced the action against the service on their own website today. The lawsuit was filed in a federal court in California.

Youtube-mp3.org describes itself as “the easiest online service for converting videos to mp3.” All you’ll need to do is paste a YouTube URL into the search box to “convert the audiotrack of your videofile to mp3…and you will be able to download it.”

Kobalt has signed a new partnership with multi-platform media company Awesomeness TV which it says will ‘revolutionize’ the music business.

AwesomenessTV, co-owned by Comcast, Hearst and Verizon, counts amongst its properties a multi-channel network (MCN) with over 90,000 YouTube channels. It will now connect its emerging musical talent with Kobalt’s publishing, label services and neighboring rights offerings.

According to new data from the International Federation of the Phonographic Industry, 49% of internet users between the ages of 16 and 24 reported stream ripping within the six months ended in April, up from 41% in the same period a year prior. Meanwhile, 30% of internet users of all ages reported stream ripping this year, a 10% increase over last year.

The trend is particularly troubling because the music industry—which has lost 60% of its value since its peak in 2000 and has barely expanded over the past five years—is banking on paid streaming services to fuel its growth.

We Are The Hits was started by Larry Mills when he worked at Sony/ATV in 2011. Initially, WATH only enabled artists to upload cover videos legally (and earn on them) from Sony/ATV songs. But Larry shortly thereafter left Sony/ATV and expanded the company to represent the three big publishing companies (Sony/ATV, Universal and Warner/Chappell) as well as many indies including Kobalt, Songs, Downtown, Ole and Pier.

So now, if you want to upload a cover song to YouTube and not worry that it may get flagged by YouTube and ripped down, you can just signup for an account with We Are The Hits, search their database to see if the song is available, upload your video to We Are The Hits and they will post it to your YouTube channel and monetize it.